Safety Study of Preimplantation Factor (PIF-1) to Treat Acute Steroid-Resistant Graft-Versus-Host Disease (GVHD)

The primary goal of this study is to determine the safety and tolerability of a novel peptide - preimplantation factor (PIF-1) - in patients who develop acute steroid-resistant graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) after matched bone marrow transplant (BMT). Following matched BMT, patients will be placed on standard GVHD preventive therapy (cyclosporine); those who do not respond to cyclosporine are placed on a high-dose steroid regimen for 3 days. Patients that do not respond to this standard treatment will be given PIF-1 subcutaneously for 14 days. Clinical data and samples will be collected, during PIF-1 administration and for an additional three months thereafter, to examine the long-term effect of PIF-1 treatment on the patients' GVHD status.